A Lengthy Insanity

[Ulu]

By the way folks, when I said, “I could do that myself” I didn’t mean that I could do clear anodizing.

I just meant that I could take that anodizing and shine it with with wet and dry paper, and then spray it with candy apple, and it would look beautiful.

I’m pretty sure I can still get candy apple red in a spray can but it’s not gonna be nitrocellulose lacquer anymore.

It’s gotta be something that doesn’t wash off with WD-40 though.

 

[threeforks]

I see what you mean about 700 C whitewalls.
modernBIKE has one that is 32 wide , but is "out of stock" , of course.
You might have seen that one.
there are good choices in 26 "
2.25 with knobby for around $20. Kenda K80 Cruiser
I am thinking you have seen those too.
Are you sure a 26" wont work up front"
A cherry red wheel with white sidewall would look great.
A compliment to the rear.
With stainless spokes of course.

Your bike and your choice, of course.
But it's fun to see what others are building, and sometimes comment.

 

[Ulu]

I see what you mean about 700 C whitewalls.
modernBIKE has one that is 32 wide , but is "out of stock" , of course.
You might have seen that one.
there are good choices in 26 "
2.25 with knobby for around $20. Kenda K80 Cruiser
I am thinking you have seen those too.
Are you sure a 26" wont work up front"
A cherry red wheel with white sidewall would look great.
A compliment to the rear.
With stainless spokes of course.

Your bike and your choice, of course.
But it's fun to see what others are building, and sometimes comment.

I welcome ALL creative suggestions from learned men. Women too, be they so inclined. Best part of the web.

I have a 26” 559 and I ran it a while. It’s alloy with quick release and pretty clean, but the hub is black and the tire is blackwall.

Here it is on the Sting-Gray, and that’s also the frame it came with.

But the mongoose didn’t handle as well on the 26”.

Of course all the handling stuff is subject to change, because I’m going to drop the rear of the mongoose frame.

 

[threeforks]

26 " wheels are easy to find, and tires also.
After the frame is dropped, the 26 " might work.

What I have seen of your work is clean, with nice parts, not the hack and butcher method
that I use.

I'm confident you will work out the handling and looks together. It might take some more trial runs.

I am including a pic of one build now 4 years old, and given away.
It is easy to see how it was hacked together, and it took a few "heat and bend" sessions
to get the rake right.
In the end, just before strip and paint, it rode surprisingly normally. Just like a store bought bike.

The kids who ended up with this bike loved it so much they didn't want to give it back or share it.

 

[kingfish254]

The shiny wheel is back on, and the black wheel’s in the shed, and I have been chilling around with piles of random parts trying to create an impressive shifter idea.

Instead I figured out a way to improve the brakes on the Sting-gray, & I started working on that.

No photographs, so instead some random bike .... that I shot at the Clovis Bicycles shop.
View attachment 197976
Can anyone tell me what’s going on with this hub? This is a recumbent bike and it has some extra idlers.
View attachment 197977

I am pretty sure that is a Nuvinci rear hub. I've never ridden one, but it is basically a continous variable transmission with limitless number of gears (sorta). I'm not sure of the gear ratio range though. I've always wanted to find one to play with. Not sure what is going on with all of the idlers, but my guess is they may be there for driveline routing.

 

[kingfish254]

I liked the fun and funky look of that big wheel up front, but I agree that the shiny skinny wheel overall is a better fit for the build.

 

[Ulu]

I’ve been riding the wheels off of the mongoose in the cul-de-sacs. Cornering traction is pretty good. It’s just a lot of fun, but I still want to lower it and stretch it a little.

You guys may be disappointed that I only intend to stretch the frame 2 to 3 inches longer, while raising the rear axle about 3 1/2 inches. I think this will get me to a position where the 700c wheel will still be fine.

I want to build a custom sissy bar for it that allows me to test different rear axle positions without cutting/welding the frame each time.

 

[Ulu]

I am pretty sure that is a Nuvinci rear hub. I've never ridden one

I’m gonna check with the bike shop tomorrow and see what he can tell me about it. I was just running around taking random photos of his stuff while he was on the phone.

 

[Ulu]

I never got to the bike shop. Too busy.

I did start digging through my collection of sheet metal to see what I could use to form a pan. I have some steel panels from what appear to be a World War II navy desk.

Also I have the sides from a Maytag and some heavier stuff. Lots of metal right now.

Whatever I do, it’s likely just going to be a single pan with welded reinforcements.

 

[Ulu]

Today I went back to the Lowrider bicycle shop in Fresno and picked up a larger stingray style seat. This seat measures 21.5” versus 19.5” on the black-and-white seat.

I was fortunate to get it for $39.95.

Unfortunately it has about 1 nanometer of padding in it, and it is plain black and ugly as they come.

This will certainly have to be reupholstered if I keep it.

Also, I scored a shortie silver steering stem. I couldn’t find a zero offset but this will be OK for now

I’m hoping this will get the steering where I want it and maybe even allow me to use the larger bars.

 

[Ulu]

Here’s the Shorty,

This actually seems a little longer than the 2 inches advertised difference.

It appears to be about 2 inches difference between the mounts.

The width is really no different and the padding is infinitesimal.

 

[RustyGold]

Most zero offset stems will be for mini BMX race bikes.

 

[Ulu]

I saw some advertised for custom forks and this Kool Designs lowrider guy sells some of that stuff, but he didn’t have what I was really looking for.

There might be something at Rubber Soul Bicycles. This is not really high dollar BMX land.

Over the past 20 years it’s turned into geriatric cruiser land.

 

[Ulu]

This is stamped both nose and tail.

Party up front:

Asian import business in the back:

The quality of the seat pan stamping appears to be much cleaner.

 

[Ulu]

Most zero offset stems will be for mini BMX race bikes.

Well it appears that I am still looking, because this stem did not fit my handlebars.

Evidently it is sized for some 3/4-in baby bars.

 

[Ulu]

I put on the new seat this evening and did a fast 3-miler around the neighborhood.

The padding is actually better and more comfortable than I imagined at first. While riding it did not feel that much different than the black and white seat.

I took a short ride yesterday with a guy from the neighborhood who has an Electra Cruiser bike. I am not sure what model but it is all murdered out.

My bike has so much more inertia that I found myself pedaling about half as often. On a slight downhill grade he was working to keep up with me.

Admittedly he had about 10 pounds of fat that I'm not carrying, but he's 10 years younger than me, and my bike weighs 20 lb more than his.

My weight had been between 175 and 180 lb now since I retired, but since I have been riding every day I am down to 168 lb and holding.

I take it easy when I'm riding with my wife, but when I go by myself I am completely merciless, and I will pedal Like a madman.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I take it easy when I'm riding with my wife, but when I go by myself I am completely merciless, and I will pedal Like a madman.

Madman #2 checking in. Solo trips are about THE SPEED!

 

[hamqqea]

Madman #3

Sounds like it's coming together alright. I had a build setup something like yours. It loved to roll.

 

[Ulu]

So here’s a bottoms-up comparison of two stingray seats. The small seat has wavy die lines and they are indistinct, with very round and wavy edges.

The longer seat has beautiful crisp die lines with well defined edges and ends.

I did a test by hand to widen the seats slightly at the fattest part, and the small seat is definitely thinner metal and easier to bend. The largest seat I could not bend by hand.

The distance between the mounting points is about 2” longer which meant I could dispense with this temporary nonsense in the front. I used these three pieces with an extra bolt to set the seat farther back on the post.

Disassembled, you can see three pieces cut from typical hinge brackets for a 4x4 gate post.

I am certainly happy to dispense with this frankenbike nonsense.

 

[Ulu]

On the big seat the spot welds were crisp and uniform, but on the small seat the pressings didn’t come together quite well enough to do a perfect job.

The bottom line is that if I re-pad and upholster this new seat, I may not have to build one from scratch.